US gymnast Jordan Chiles may lose Olympic bronze after court ruling

The Arbitration for Sport has annulled the investigation that led to a bronze medal for American gymnast Jordan Chiles on the floor exercise, clearing the way for Romania’s Ana Barbosu to replace Chiles as the bronze medallist.

CAS ruled on Saturday that U.S. coach Cecile Landi’s request to add 0.1 to Chiles’ score, which would have moved her from fifth to third, fell outside the one-minute time allowed by the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG).

Cas wrote in its decision that the original finishing order should be restored, with Barbosu third, teammate Sabrina Maneca-Voinea fourth and Chiles fifth. The organization added that the FIG should determine the final ranking “in accordance with the above decision.”

Barbosu and Maneca-Voinea were left out of the medals in the floor final in Paris after finishing with equal scores of 13.700. Barbosu thought she had won bronze from Maneca-Voinea via a tiebreaker – a higher execution score – and began celebrating with a Romanian flag.

Chiles was the last athlete to compete and initially received a score of 13.666, which placed her in fifth place, just behind Maneca-Voinea. Landi requested an investigation into her score and after a review, the judges increased Chiles’ total by 0.1. That was enough to overtake Barbosu and Maneca-Voinea for the final spot on the podium.

USA Gymnastics said in a statement that it was “devastated” by the ruling.

“The investigation into the difficulty of Jordan Chiles’ floor exercise was submitted in good faith and, we believe, in accordance with FIG rules to ensure accurate scoring,” the organization wrote.